Collectables

German artists take many of the top spots as another colourful selection comes to the saleroom

In November 1915, Captain Wilton John Rix of the 6th Bedfordshire Regiment wrote from France to the East Suffolk Gazette with an understated and moving plea for a relief from the war’s monotony.

Lot 57 at Sutton Hill Farm Country Auctions on October 21 comprised ‘2 framed paintings, signed J Cole, one other’, taking a hammer price of £8. Lot 59, a ‘vintage Sesame Street Big Bird piano toy’ (in working order) made it into double figures, at £14.

A rare Islamic Mecca-centred world map, considered a masterpiece from Safavid Persia, will star in the Islamic and Indian Art sale at Bonhams.

The eggs of the extinct Aepyornis maximus or elephant bird are the largest of any known species.

Although Gallipoli in the Great War became a defining moment in Australian nationhood and identity, the second Boer War from 1899-1902 featured the first-large scale involvement of troops from Down Under.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions available via thesaleroom.com

A never-before-seen photo of soldiers leaving Ulster to fight in the First World War and a serviceman’s diary from the trenches have been uncovered.

A handmade model of Dorothy Gale’s Kansas home, created for the famous tornado scene in the 1939 MGM classic 'The Wizard of Oz', was competed to $445,000 (£367,000) at Studio Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Manhattan Beach, California on October 7.

The ‘fine and scarce’ 1918 Sopwith Camel fighter ace’s Distinguished Flying Cross and bar awarded to Captain Solomon Clifford Joseph (previewed in ATG No 2613) sold within estimate for £20,000 in Mayfair.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

Originally Roman, Portchester Castle near Portsmouth was first used to house captured enemy soldiers in 1665, when England was at war with the Netherlands.

One of the best performers against estimate at Tennants’ (24% buyer’s premium) Militaria & Ethnographica sale on September 20 was a fascinating collection of photographs and ephemera relating to a French Second World War hero.

A collection of correspondence penned by leading figures of the 20th century to an Oxford academic raised more than £20,000 for charity at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) on October 10.

An intriguing painted wooden British soldier doll sold for more than 10 times the top estimate when it was offered at Guernsey auction house Martel Maides (24% buyer’s premium).

Only 155 Arctic Medals 1875-76 were issued, with 59 of those being to HMS Discovery.

Follow-up edition of a classic avian work was more or less a new publication thanks to extra research

The growth in toys and collectables is related to the age of buyers and the items they remember from their own childhood, auction houses say.

Among recent paratrooper items that impressed at auction, this Polish badge with combat wreath doubled the top estimate at Bosleys to take £4000 from a UK online private buyer.